The Kinetic Luminosity Function and the Jet Production Efficiency of Growing Black Holes

We derive the kinetic luminosity function for flat-spectrum radio jets, using the empirical and theoretical scaling relation between jet power and radio core luminosity. The normalization for this relation is derived from a sample of flat-spectrum cores in galaxy clusters with jet-driven X-ray cavities. The total integrated jet power at z p 0 is . By integrating over redshift, we determine the total energy density deposited 40 1 3 W ≈ 3 # 10 ergs s Mpc W tot tot by jets as . Both and are dominated by low-luminosity sources. Comparing 58 3 e ≈ 2 # 10 ergs Mpc W e tot tot tot to the local black hole mass density gives an average jet production efficiency of 2 e r e p e /r c ≈ tot BH jet jet BH . Since black hole mass is accreted mainly during high-luminosity states, is likely much higher during 3% e jet low-luminosity states. Subject headings: accretion, accretion disks — black hole physics — galaxies: jets — radio continuum: galaxies